Fallout: Ask a Displaced Journal (Cancelled)
by MajorKO
Summary: Waking up after an accident, Richard realizes that he's not in his world. Instead, he's in the fallout universe, half a year before the nukes fall and create the wasteland we all know. Equipped with only his knowledge, the items on him, and the help of the unknown reviewers, he sets out to survive the nuclear apocalypse and possibly rewrite history! (Ask fanfiction, like tumblr!)
1. Chapter 1

_Entry: Prolouge_

 _March 6, 2077_

Hello everyone, I guess this is my first… um entry I guess? Yes, my first entry! So, apparently I'm in some sort of alternate world. Last thing I remember before arriving here was hitting the brakes after some asshole nearly slammed into my side at an intersection. Maybe I got in an accident and died…

Moving on from that! So I just woke up an hour or so ago just outside some big city, which I'm guessing is Seattle due to the fact that I can see the Space Needle. Also, judging from the fact that EVERYTHING is in a 1950's style, the large amount of anti-chinese and war effort propaganda flying around, and the fact that I'm typing on a Pipboy 3300, I'm guessing that I'm in the fallout universe. Hell, I'm positive that I saw a couple of vertibirds fly out into the harbor!

After a few minutes of panicking like a headless monkey that I was going to be killed in an atomic blast, I finally calmed down enough to notice the odd pipboy that was right next to my feet. When I checked it, I saw that my pipboy showed the date and realized that I still have more than half a year until the nukes come raining down.

So, now I'm sitting at a small cafe inside Seattle, typing to you guys on the pipboy. I did a quick inventory check and I have three changes of 1950's style clothes (thank goodness I still have my jacket, even if it brought some odd glances), the pipboy, a wallet containing $250 dollars and my identification papers that mark me down as Richard Arc Mason, and a switchblade, all of which are in a grey backpack except for the pipboy.

So, now that I've said all of that and outlined everything, I still don't know what to do. Apparently this pipboy can receive messages from askers like a tumblr blog, so if you have any advice or recommendations or whatever, please help me and send it! Or you could all be imaginary and this is some sort of very large prank… heh.

 **Author's notes**

 **Alright, so that's the start of this ask fanfiction. How it will work is to send an ask/advice/message/whatever, than just leave a review, that simple! I will however ignore any reviews from chapters that I'm already ahead of by a couple. For example, if I'm writing chapter five, then I'm going to be looking at reviews for chapters 4, 3, and maybe 2, while ones from 1 will be ignored. That being said, I will likely check back at those reviews every now and then just to see what was mentioned and MAYBE use an idea if it's mind-blowing. Also, I'll only be talking about the reviews themselves once every few chapters so I'm not completely restricted.**

 **So I'm going to be posting the next chapter once a few reviews are in. Hopefully this will work, but keep in mind if there aren't enough reviews then I'm probably going to cancel the fanfiction or change it somehow, maybe make it so that the review thing is optional or happens left often. Either way, I'd like to thank 'PsyckoSama' for inspiring me to write this and giving me the idea for the self insert in the first place, as well as some of the in-story ideas shown both now and in future chapters (Not gonna make mutated pets, sorry Sama :D). Make sure to check out his story: 'Maybe You'll Think of Me: A journal of the Post-Apocalypse.'. It's pretty much the same type of story, except a lot better and already almost sixty chapters in. Well, that's all for now!**

 **Stay determined folks!**


	2. Chapter 2

_Entry #2_

 _March 7, 2077_

Hello everyone, so I've gotten some suggestions, questions, and advice since the last entry, so that's great! I'm glad to see there's some people out there willing to help me. So I'll go over and answer and address what you guys talked about, and then I'll recap what's happened since the last entry.

There are two known vaults inside the city, with another at the outskirts, along with a 'public bunker' of sorts. Basically, some rich person built a bunker and was kind enough to offer spots for all the residents in their neighborhood, plus any others who managed to pay a fee or are very valuable and haven't been scooped up by any vaults yet. But before you suggest anything, no I'm not going to either of these. We all know that most vaults are experiments, and trying to overthrow the overseer when the bombs do fall probably won't work well either. I also doubt that I'll be able to get into one, with what little money I have. I want to also avoid the 'public bunker', because I don't completely know if the owner has any interior motives. Plus, for all I know, the bunker might not be strong enough to survive a nuclear blast, and considering that a West-tek facility is only a mile away, I don't want to risk it.

Gun laws are actually a bit more relaxed. It's pretty easy to get ammo and a pistol. Long arms are a bit harder to get, and while they can be bought, automatic weapons are very expensive and hard to acquire. Even then, they're limited to just some submachine guns and a couple of older assault rifle models.

CIT is not an option, and Vegas is very unlikely. For the Commonwealth, it would probably take around a month to travel there with the money I got, if I'm lucky. Once I do get there, I will be much less prepared to survive the nukes. Plus, the east coast will very likely get hit hard by the nukes, considering that many of the major cities are located there, like Washington D.C, New York, and Boston. Vegas is a bit more likely, but I'm probably not going to go there either. While the nukes hit the place due to House's defense systems, the city was still hit pretty hard. There were several buildings inside the city that looked like they should've been in a nuked city, and it's hard to imagine that a small period of rioting and the elements caused all that damage, even if it was more than 200 years later. Not only that, but I'm not completely sure if ALL of the nukes were destroyed. Sure, the city wasn't hit, but that doesn't mean that the surrounding land wasn't affected. The mutated animals and feral ghouls prove that.

While inflation is a problem that's starting to arise in many areas of the country, surprisingly Washington isn't one of them. Of course, prices are up due to the war in general and all of that, but resources here aren't generally in short supply. After a bit of searching through several books and what passes for an internet, I found the answer why. While a decent amount of Washington's west coast was industrialized or urbanized, the central and eastern areas still had a decent amount of farms and rural regions, meaning that food wasn't in short supply. In addition, there were several mines, mills, plants, and factories scattered throughout Washington, all bringing in supplies that wasn't being shipped out. Further research showed that the Governor of Washington had managed to pass a law a couple of years ago restricting much of the flow of goods outside the state. While this had bad results at first, the various companies and factories soon adjusted and are now providing for the state population of over nine million, which means that unless something else happens, inflation is very less likely going to occur. Also, the fact that the money value seems to be largely the same as it was in the 50's is just going to help me further.

Cybernetics aren't going to be possible. Most cybernetics only go to government or military people, with the exception being some wealthy people and those who lose a limb or body part, and even those are rudimentary at best. Besides, while they might help, I'm not too keen on replacing parts of my body with machine components. That, and I don't want to have the chance of being killed the second the emp blast from the nukes reaches me.

As for my skills, I have a Major in Management and a Minor in Mechanical engineering, which I got from Washington State University down in Pullman. I was originally going to join two other classmates and friends in a joint business in Spokane, but I guess that plan isn't going to be available. Luckily, my certification seems to have joined me in this world, as I still have my Major and Minor marked down here. Besides that, I've gone hunting a few times so I know how to fire a pistol and rifle, as well as how to clean and maintain them, set traps for animals, and properly gut and prepare them. Besides that, there's just the basic skills of knowing how to do various house chores and drive a car.

Alright, so with that out of the way, now for what I've been doing! After the last entry, I had gone to a nearby library and spent some time looking through some of the information there, which is why I was able to respond to all of you with that information. After that and a quick dinner, I booked a room at the Fall city roadhouse inn on the city outskirts. The pay is four dollars per night, which is pretty good. After I woke up, I went ahead and looked for some jobs and got a couple of options.

The first available job is at a shop called 'Max's Machines'. There, they sell all kinds of machines, from simple things such as toasters and clocks, to more complicated things like fridges and generators, to even a few protectrons and Mr. Handies. The job available is an assistant manager position, which surprised me a bit. When I looked into it, I saw that it was a little less critical than the normal position. While I would have to cover things like organizing people, dealing with customers, and doing paperwork, recruiting and training doesn't fall down to me, as well as a number of other things that are left to others. The job pays $3 an hour, and 30 hours a week.

The second job is at the RobCo regional office. There's a spot open for a mechanic. The job it seems is to help maintain the various machines and systems throughout the building and a couple of nearby factories. It's an alright job, with a pay of about $2.50 per hour and 22 hours per week. The real bonus would be the access to all of the machinery and robotics of RobCo, so when the nukes fall, I'd have a decent chance at securing it.

Even so, I still think that the job at the M.M store is the better option. If you guys think otherwise, then let me know. There's a few other open jobs, but they're for lower paying jobs and for things where my skills wouldn't be used, such as a bartender or security guard.

Besides that, I've been spending most of my time just acquainting myself to this new world and taking in the sights. I will admit that while I liked the modern look of my old world better, there was a certain beauty to this place. However, this was erased from my mind when I looked out into the harbor, a large shipyard just outside the city limits. What surprised me the most was what was being built there.

A battleship.

Turns out that unlike my world, this one decided to either keep the battleships or bring them back. I was able to tell that this looked like a very modern Iowa class battleship under construction, cranes lifting pieces of equipment and sheets of metal as construction worker walked along the ship, either welding in parts or overseeing the process. To be honest, I shouldn't of been surprised. With the cold war never officially having ended, battleships wouldn't have been put down, and there are some older equipment still in service, such as the sherman tanks from world war 2.

An interesting thing was that as I was passing by, I overheard a couple of the managers for the ship construction talking, and I heard one of them mention the ship launch being delayed to around early november. This was great and worrisome. On one hand, this could mean that I could get some serious firepower once the apocalypse starts, this is if I can get the crew. On the other hand, other groups can get this too. I wouldn't be surprised if the Enclave or some surviving remnant organization like the brotherhood tries to get it.

Well, on that note, I feel like this would be a good time to wrap things up. Thanks for sticking with and supporting me guys, whether it is to keep me safe or just because you wanted to get involved. Heck, some of you are probably just here for entertainment, I mean this does remind me of a tumblr ask blog. Shit, I better not start hearing asks or having 'anon magic' casted on me.

 **Author's notes**

 **Well, here's the second chapter, and the first one to feature asks/reviews from you guys! Reviews were from users 'Irenan', 'Alexeij', and 'WatcherOnTheWastes'. Before you ask, no there won't be any 'anon magic', because despite the connections I've made in the story, this is NOT Tumblr. However, there will be exceptions.**

 **While I won't accept anything overpowered or can break the storyline, physical deliveries MIGHT be possible. If you try to send one, I will look over it before deciding whether or not to add it to the story. To send it, do it like this: *Sends example*. That's also ho-**

 _"Hey! Why the hell did I just get a slip of paper saying 'example' on it! You better not be trying anything Major!"_

 **Don't worry, nothing too bad will likely happen. Now as I was saying, that works with both physical and digital entries. I say physical and digital because physical deliveries will only work until the bombs fall, and digital deliveries (like with blueprints, images, videos, etc.) will only be available a while after the bombs fall. Also, links and sending whole websites won't work. Sure, small ones could, as well as videos, images, individual pages, and other similar things will, but the 'pipboy' won't exactly be able to take all of that. Also, make sure to clearly say the name of whatever you're sending me and what website it came from if it did. While Richard won't be able to see more than what's provided, I can be curious at times and I might want to check the rest of the home website out. That and I'd like to see exactly what information was provided. Well, that's all for now!**

 **Stay determined folks!**

 **P.S Just because everyone is suggesting it, I might eventually do a seperate story arc where Richard decides to go the New Vegas, just because everyone is suggesting it. I say eventually because I'm not going to even start on it until this story arc is well beyond a good point and is more popular.**


	3. Chapter 3

_Entry #3_

 _March 9, 2077_

Hey everyone, I'm back for another update. So, like last time I'll go over all the questions and points you made before telling you what's happened since the last time I posted.

I know what a nuked city looks like, I've seen some of the pictures from Hiroshima and Nagasaki during some world war 2 documentaries before I got here. I also know that Vegas itself wasn't nuked. What I am saying though is that while the city itself wasn't hit, that doesn't mean it wasn't affected. Fallout and some radiation from other nuclear explosions very likely hit the city sometime after. I know that the residents did survive for a while and ended up rioting, but nuclear fallout likely killed most of them. Besides, some of the nukes did land in the Mojave, just not in Vegas.

The primary reason why I'm hesitant to join up with House is because of his motives. While he has some interesting and promising ideas and a lot of resources, he wants to shape mankind's future in his vision, and I might potentially get in his way. For all I know, once the nukes fall he'll just cast me out into the city. I'm guessing that no RobCo personnel were allowed to remain in the Lucky 38, which only increases my worries. Plus, I want to try to avoid messing with known fallout history as much as possible before the bombs fall. Once they do fall however, it's fair game from there.

That's also why I'm not going to the Sierra Madre either. While preventing the unfortunate events that happen there would be nice, and the technology would be cool, I don't want to get involved with it. I'm also not comfortable with the cloud and the various experiments going on there.

I know that the first atomic bombs had a much smaller yield than present nukes, but these 'modern' nukes are different from the old ones in another way. Most nukes now don't have as much of a thermal payload as previous ones, but instead more fallout. I'm guessing that this was done so more of the population would be killed. This would also explain some of the smaller radioactive craters seen in the game.

I know that staying in Seattle isn't a good idea. It's one of the most major coastal cities closest to China, so of course it's going to get nuked. I also have a relative idea of where I'm going to go. Before the nukes fall, I'm going to head east past the Cascade mountains, which should offer protection from most of the coastal fallout. Besides that, I'm hoping to stay within the state boundaries. At most I'll remain in the Northwest commonwealth or go to British Columbia.

As for the battleship, I'm not too sure that it'll be fried by the EMP blast. When looking at Rivet city for example, a decent amount of the electronics are still working, from lighting to the aircraft elevators. So, if a carrier that was being repaired/refitted and was within the nuclear blast radius survived the nukes relatively intact and with many electronics working, a nearly completed battleship could survive the blast too.

I checked the prices, a plane ticket to Boston costs about $8,000 dollars. So it's going to take a while to even have the chance to go there, not that I even want to, to be honest.

I know that I 'playing nice' isn't how to survive, and doing some crime or shady activities is likely going to happen.

I'm not going to try to take over the world. Being the leader of a settlement or a small nation at most I'll gladly take. But the world? Hell no, I'm not ready for that kind of commitment.

I know that cybernetics would be very helpful, but I'm still not going to willingly put a bunch of contraptions into my body, even if they improve me. That being said, maybe one or two minor ones after the great war and it's EMP effects wouldn't be a bad idea…

The microchip, that's a brilliant idea! From what I've seen, the idea and concept was available here, but it was never truly invented or gained momentum! There are some designs close to it, but from what I've seen they either don't work too well. are more bulky/large, or are different enough to distinct them. If I could get the parts needed, I can make a prototype for it, patent it, and sell it to RobCo for a lot a money, plus maybe a good position. This way, I'll be in a good corporate position while hopefully not having to deal with House! This is perfect! If you could send me the schematics and samples for this model and the later models up to present day, as well as maybe schematics for other objects that could be seen as invented by the same person as the one who made the microchip, then that'll be perfect!

So, not much has exactly changed since the last entry. Until I get some money coming in, I'm staying at the Inn since it's pretty cheap. I've gone to the library a few more times for some more research, as well as a trip into the center of the city to see if I could find anything interesting. While it was mostly fruitless, I did find a few things worth mentioning.

The military presence in the city is very high. I saw at least half a dozen checkpoints, along with convoys and patrols of APCs, armored vehicles, and troops. I also managed to see a few national guard helicopters and army vertibirds patrolling the sky above the city, and I'm pretty sure a few of the faster boats in the harbor belonged to the police or national guard.

Another thing I noticed is the weaponry. Most of the military forces used guns from the later fallout games like the R-91 and infiltrator from fallout 3, the 10mm SMG from Fallout: New Vegas, the combat rifle (apparently called the R-80) from fallout 4, and the laser rifles from all three of them. Even so, some of them, along with the police and national guard, used models from both the older games and my old world, such as the M16A1 and Steyr assault rifles, M4A1 carbine, FN FAL battle rifle, MP5 submachine gun, and the M249 and M2 browning machine guns.

There's also the power armor some of the soldiers are wearing. I noticed that while most of the sets of power armor the T-51, there were a few instances where soldiers were actually wearing T-60 sets, which I guess means that it isn't just limited to the east coast.

So, besides that, all I did was get some food from a super-duper mart. Tomorrow I'm going to patent the microchip and if you don't send me physical versions, then I'll look for the materials needed for them. I'll also go ahead and rent a few books from the library on subjects related to the microchip and general mechanical and computer engineering so I'll hopefully at least look like I know the exact specifics of the microchip. That and the fact that I'm curious about this world's mechanics, which is why I also bought a couple other books involving robotics and machinery.

Well, that's it. I'll post another entry when something happens, which could be up to next week for all I know. I'll see you all then.

 **Author's note**

 **Thank you for your support of this story so far. Reviews were from 'Aegon Blacksteel', 'Alexeij', and 'ExS-DrIfTeRr'.**

 **Stay determined folks!**


	4. Chapter 4

_Entry #4_

 _March 10, 2077_

Hey guys, it's Richard here with a quick update and ask review.

All of this stuff is definitely going to come in handy. Thank you for all of the microchip schematics by the way, they will be useful if I plan correctly. I'll have to wait on the computer however, since the microchips in them will be of a later design. The info on biofuels, caravans, and on basic disaster supplies will help for sure, even if in different ways.

I'll probably sell the info on biofuels 'under the counter' so to speak, since I'm not exactly a genius with it and releasing products or info from at least two very different subjects could raise some suspicion.

I was a bit confused on what you meant by a caravan until I read into the info you gave me a bit. Basically they're like a mixture of an RV and a small home with some luxury usually added into it. I am planning on getting one of these eventually, probably about a month or so before the bombs fall if I have the money. In that time, I'll probably strip a decent amount of it out and replace it with either storage or equipment that I'll hopefully have reverse engineered from my world.

I did check out a RV and caravan dealership earlier, and I saw some that were quite promising. The ones that caught my eye the most were the 'Holocaust Ranger'. It had about two levels and was pretty big. It had radiation and EMP shielding, decent enough armor to withstand up to 5.56mm rounds or light explosives. It had a water and air filtration system, communication set, portable plastic airlock system, a nuclear engine that can be converted into a generator, and more!

I'll hopefully not need to have to use one of these disaster kits when the bombs fall, but it'll be for the best to have a couple ready as stashes or 'bug out' kits. Plus, they'll help me focus on the essential supplies I'll need to pack.

Thank you for sending Spotify, I will for sure use it to my complete advantage. Also, it does work, even if it is a slightly different version that fits the pipboy. So this means that I can get music from my world. As it is, I've already downloaded/selected about a dozen songs before remembering to do the update first.

So, earlier today I managed to patent the microchip design. The process was actually a lot cheaper and easier to do than it was back in my world, at least I think it was. Even so, it still cost me half of my money and a lot of time to properly document the 'development' the the microchip itself.

Also, as I was leaving I noticed that the person who I talked with about the patent was calling someone. I'm not completely sure who, but I hope it's nothing too serious. Who knows, maybe it was to RobCo or another company.

After that, I had used some of my remaining money to buy the materials needed to make the microchip prototype. By tomorrow, I should have it ready.

So, now all I have is about $40, which should be enough to last another week at most. Hopefully I'll have a job before then, but if not then I'll have to do some robbery or shady business.

On a final note, I found out about a local arms dealer. Not completely illegal, but still shady and away from authorities. I don't have the money to buy anything from him yet, but when I do I'll make sure to arm myself with a good pistol. An m9 that he had caught my attention and it looks like it'll fit me.

 **Author's notes**

 **Reviews today from 'ExS-DrIfTeRr'.**

 **Stay determined folks!**


	5. Chapter 5

_Entry #5_

 _March 15, 2077_

Thank you for the vault information and faction history. While the former doesn't have any locations in Washington, besides the semi-cannon vault 6, which might not even be there, and the later probably won't come into use for a while, it will definitely be important. The vertical farming and solar panel information will also be very useful.

That is a good idea! I'll make sure to see if I can eventually get a pipboy updated with the microchip, maybe try to upgrade this computer pipboy I got as well!

So, I got good news. I managed to contact RobCo and after some talking with one of the regional executives, we managed to strike a deal. They will pay me $60 million dollars and a position/job in the company in exchange for the patent of the microchip and it's designs. Further versions produced by me (aka brought from my stash of microchip schematics) will be produced for a reasonable cost, as well as any other products I bring up.

Before you say anything, yes I tried to get a higher amount of money, but I couldn't get higher than $60 million. Heck, the original starting price was $35 million!

So yeah, I now got a ton of cash and a job, woohoo! I decided to rent a nice apartment on the outskirts of the city, a pretty decent sized space too. It's got a bathroom, bedroom, study, living/dining room, and kitchen unit. This also means that I'll be able to receive physical deliveries from you guys and properly store them, as long as it isn't big. So starting tomorrow, I'm going to be in a two-week 'orientation' period where I'm taught most of the basic things about the company, what I'll need to do, etc. I'm probably not going to be able to post during that time, so unless something major comes up, then I'll be silent.

I also decided to rent a vehicle, an old pickup truck. A bit old and rusty, but it gets the job done. I used it for the first time when I went to find the arms dealer I mentioned in the last entry. After about half an hour of searching, I finally found him by some old warehouses. Managed to strike a deal for the M9 and three full mags, along with a couple of 9mm ammo boxes, each holding 50 bullets. Did a bit of searching and I also managed to find a suppressor for the pistol too. On the way home, I bought some food and utilities from a Super-Duper mart, along with some more clothes and a small safe for the pistol and Pipboy 3300.

Well, I think that's all for now. I'll see you in the next entry!


	6. Chapter 6

_Entry #6_

 _April 5, 2077_

Hey guys, I'm finally back from orientation period! All in all, it wasn't too bad. I met quite a few people and learned a few things, most notably some tips in robotics, computer/terminal coding, and machinery.

I was put into a decent position too, as a researcher none the less. While I'm part of a small team, I can still work mostly in isolation, which suits me just fine. Even so, I still got around to talking to the team, and it went pretty well. We even got some coffee after work.

The first person is Charles Goodman. A 38 year old, 5'6 man with dark brown hair, he is the main nuclear physicist of the group. Born in Boston, he went to C.I.T before joining RobCo and being assigned here. He's a good-natured man and jokes around a bit. He's also pretty decent with chemistry and some other aspects of science.

Next is Joseph Orlien. At. 24 years old, 5'10, blonde hair, and from California, he is the computer expert. He gained his experience through hacking his school's terminals and many local networks, including the local police and General Atomics networks. He was noticed by RobCo a few years ago when he managed to hack a sentry bot that had gone haywire and was, for some reason, attacking every streetlamp that it could find. The kid himself likes to test his limits quite often, but at the same time still acts like an 18 year old.

After him is Alexa Lienstech, our robotics expert. She and her parents had immigrated to the United States when she was six due to the wars that were popping up in Europe. She's 26 years old, 5'8, has brown hair, and is cute and cool at the same time. She's a complete nerd like me, and she loves to have long conversations about it. If the fact that the apocalypse was happening in several months wasn't true, then I might try to date her. Who knows, I still might just do that.

Finally, there's Jason Toiler, a weaponry and material expert. He's six feet tall and probably around 50 or so years old. No one really knows much about him, but from what we can tell he was a former commander in the military, and probably fought in both the annexation of Canada and the war in Alaska. He doesn't talk much and is always serious, although he does help when asked. All things considered, he seems like a decent guy, even if it is scary about how much he exactly knows about weapons and how much certain materials could withstand an explosion or a barrage of rifle bullets.

So that's who I'm going to be working with now. Luckily I know enough about microchips that I'll at least seem like I know what I'm doing when I'm 'researching' on better models.

The place that I'm going to be working at is in downtown Seattle. I know that it's not good since it'll probably be near ground zero, but there's thankfully another location being built across the mountain range in some town called Colgane, which is just northwest of Ellensburg. I'm going to look into the town later on, but it seems like a good place. I'll be required to move there, which is fine by me, so I'll start looking into a house that has an area nearby where a bunker could be built. I'll tell you some of the ideas I have for the bunker at a later date.

Now to answer a review that I've gotten. I do plan on installing a water purifier and a small garden in my vault, along with a seed bank of sorts. I'll also be packing a lot of food. A good thing I found out was that a lot of the food from my old world is available here, with Doritos chips and frosted flake cereal just a couple of examples. Shame that the milk is the same as it was in the fifties. Eh, oh well, can't have everything.

So in about a week I'll give RobCo a newer version of the microchip, which I think I'll skip a few models ahead. After all, I want to be able to integrate efficient microchip technology myself.

Well, I think that's all. I'll post again soon to tell you guys more about my plans for the bunker and and info that I find, along with answering your questions and reviews. Cya later!


End file.
